MARKET VALUE OF 996

Having just had a major accident my insurance company have told me my 996 C4 2000 my W is a total loss, they have offered me £22500 to replace the car. I have searched high and low and can't find a car with similar spec to mine for that sort of money. I have declined the offer and asked for something close to its proper market price. Any ideas on the market value ? Any advice on dealing with the insurance company ? My car was artic silver, 89,000 enjoyable miles, fsh, Manual, 2 owners, full extended black&grey leather (unusual), red seat belts upgraded speakers, 3 spoke stearing wheel, alcantara headlining, small alloy pack, silver dials, GT3 wheels, Zymoled. Any advice would be much appreciated Regards Richard Smith ps I am now in search of a replacement if anyone knows of a good car, thinking of Cabrio 996 C4

Welcome Richard - shame it's under these circumstances. I would expect a car such as yours to be on a dealer's forecourt for around £24,000. A couple of guys have recently bought 2000W cars for £25k and £26k with about half the mileage of yours (see page 2 of the "Which Colour" thread). Therefore, and I hope this isn't too upsetting, I don't think the insurance company are a long way off the mark I had a similar issue when my daughter's first car was written off. I got a list of similar cars on Autotrader, and spoke to the insurance company. I got them to do the same internet search while I was on the line, and the result was that I managed to get them to up their offer from £3500 to £3900. Not a huge amount, but if you could talk them up by the same percentage, it would make quite a difference. You have to keep insisting that it is not possible to buy a car equivalent to yours for the money they are offering. I am convinced that they leave some room for negotiation - after all, they will try and pay out as little as they can.

Try going on pistonheads and try and find similar vehicles. If the accident was someone else's fault then, in theory, you are meant to be put back in the position you would have been in had the accident not occurred. If you have owned the car a while then it's not just about what they fetch for sale but what it would cost you to buy a replacement nurtured like your own - when my 944 was written off last year I found a number for sale online and used this to persuade the insurance company to significantly increase their offer. Best of luck.

If you look at the details of your insurance, you may find that the insurance only pays out on the standard car. i.e. if you've had GT3 wheels as an option then this value will not be taken into account. Likewise some of the other bits and bobs may be ignored as they are not part of a basic configuration. Not all insurance companies work the same though.

Richard, Sorry to hear of your loss. You did well to decline the offer initially. My thoughts are exactly the same as Richard Hamilton's ... hopefully you can get some more money from them, but don't expect much more. My W-reg 996 C2 is similar to yours (fsh, OPC warrantee, manual, 3 owners, extended black leather, upgraded sound system, 3 spoke steering wheel, alcantara headlining, small alloy pack, silver dials) I have turbo alloys not GT3's. I paid just under 26,000 for the car exactly one year ago, but it only had less than 47,000 miles on it. So, for another year on and another 42,000 miles, I would assume that yours would be worth at least 2 to 3 grand less. When my insurance co tried to write off a Toyata Celica GT4 I crashed (claiming it was only worth 4,500), I copied a number of adverts from Top Marques showing similar spec and mileage cars to the insurance co, showing asking prices were around 8,000 and they agreeed to repair it rather than write it off after all. So gather together the evidence you can and send it to them to get some more £££. Here's a nice sounding 2000 C2, similar spec incl GT3 wheels and OPC warrantee (big bonus), but only 65,000 miles for 23,995 asking price. No doubt they'd accept 23,500, so maybe the insurance co's offer of 22,500 isn't so far off with the greater mileage on yours ... http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/337620.htm Hope that helps & Good luck.

Richard, This advice is "a bit after the horse has bolted" but worth considering when buying again. When I bought my latest car not only did I buy a 3 year warranty but I bought a total loss insurance with it, all in £1500. What this means is if I wrote it off or it were stolen I would be paid the price that I paid on the car at point of purchase rather than the current value. I think it is well worth while. Does anyone have any experience of using this insurance in the event of a claim? It would be interesting to hear of it used in anger.

Thank to all who have given me advice it is much appreciated at this time of loss !! Could Robbosliding please give me more details of the insurance provider he recomends. Once again many thanks !!1 I think it will have to be a C4 or C2 with psm next time !!! Richard

This is owned by a friend of mine. It's a lovely car and he's just rejected an offer of just under £23k, so I would say that your insurance co's offer of £22,500 is spot on, unfortunately.

Hi, To add my 2 penneth I think Robbosliding is refering to GAP insurance. I also took this out through Porsche. Basically it will add to the difference of what the insurance pay thus the gap. I have it for 3 years from purchase well worth it . So up to 3 years later if I have an accident that renders my car obsolete I can get the exact amount of money I initially paid. Hope I am not teaching grandmother to suck eggs here! Regards Alan.

Richard Bummer When mine was "beyond economical repair" last year a list of similar car was prepared, servicing history/costs spent on the car etc and this was used to gain an extra 10% from original offer A quick trawl on Autotrader for 2000w on a W starts at £23k There's a 2000 C4 72k miles @£24999 Good luck

Hi, I have a Silver C4 Cabriolet for sale 2001 with 28K on the clock at £32K or near offer. Full OPC porsche history, more factory extras than you can shake a stick at, cost £85K new. Its currently featured in "Tried & tested" February edition of Porsche & 911 World. You can read the test & spec there or give me a call on 07973 632 806 (Epsom, Surrey)